Demon Dogs - Completed Music video + editing process

Dear Diary,

Today is the day that I have finally completed the editing process for the project that I was doing for unit 6, which was to shoot and edit a music video for the performing arts students.

This project overall took a long duration of time to prepare for and shoot for.

For the past couple of weeks me and my class mates had to regular have meetings with the students and had to try our best to capture their visions and what they wanted to see in the music video. This project was challenging and even sometimes stressful, but eventually we had successfully managed to record them in all the settings they had wanted.

Below is the final edit of the music video ↓

The Editing Process

What went well?

What effects I used?

& if the process was difficult or not

The editing process took a lot of time, we was first all given the clips and had to sort them out in folders. We had to analyze each clip and put them in folders, according to what shot it was, what environment the clip was set in and if the clip contained bits of the chorus. Once I sorted out all of my clips all that was left for me to do was to edit the music video using the software Premier Pro.

When it came to editing the music video, I was given a deadline to do so, which was that we all as a class was given two weeks to complete it, which I found reasonable as I felt that I could easily complete the editing process of the music video in that time brief (and i did)

All that was needed for me to do was to add the clips and sync it to the music in the appropriate time where the dancers were dancing for that exact moment. They were some clips we had where the dancers were dancing for the chorus and some for the verse, however their was not any clips for the introduction, which at first left me with difficulties, but after a while I was told that we could use any clips for the intro, as long as it went well with it.

Most of the clips we had shot for this music video were all in different colors and different lightings, so to improve this I had to color correct each of my clips, which at first did take some time as I had to experiment with each of the UNIVERSAL filters in Premier Pro, just to see which filter helped to correct the colors in these clips.

Picture of the effects and the different types of filters Premier had .....

I had to ensure that all the clips had the same color, otherwise some of the clips would stand out more than the others and look out of place. This process was tough, as I had to find a filter that went well with all my clips, or at least looked similar to the other filters, unless they were some clips were I wanted more intense colors than the others.

An example

← Before the effect - after →

The effects used on the after picture was ''SL Retro Brown (Universal) filter

For example in this clip I was not as worried about the colors being the same, merely because I wanted to enhance and give this scene more dark and dramatic colors, this was because the two dancers were emotional and appeared to be fighting, but holding on to one another because they're still in love, thus resulting in me using the same filter I used for the majority of my clips, but not changing it because of the colors looked more black than brown

Here is the effects that I used to color correct my clips -

and what it looked like before and after

Using again the ''SL Retro Brown (Universal) filter

As you can see from the clip from using the SL Retro Brown (Universal) filter, their has been a huge different and contrast in the colors, I really liked what this filter did, as it just helped made the colors more richer and darker, I felt that before the colors were too clear and clean and at some parts, it kind of washed some of them dancers out. Using this filter really helped enrich the quality and enhance the color of their skin-tones and their clothing, it just made these features stand out more, which is what I wanted to add to my music video, I did not just want their dancing to capture the attention but also them as a performer and what their attire is.

Using the Green-screen effect in Premier Pro

We had many clips that were recorded on the green background in the television studio, so instead of leaving the background to how it was, I had decided instead to use the background for its benefits, which is that I would be able to have the chance to transform it into anything.

They were some clips that I however decided not to transform the background completely, but instead alter the color of it and change it to white. This was because it did not look as good as when I changed the background in the close up clips. When I added the background to the chorus scene it just faded into the dancers and just did not look professional or pleasant at all.

The process

In order for me to get the green screen effect on to my video, all that was needed for me to do was this (here is a screen recording of me doing the whole routine)

Another way that you can also achieve the green screen effect

Click on the ultra key effect

↓

Drag the ultra key effect on to the clip in the time-line that you want to use!

Click on effects control if it has not automatically opened up

↓

Click on the key color ink symbol and drag the ink on to the green background

↓

You should get an image like this

Next step on the effects control around the ultra key setting,

on output put the setting as Composite

and as the setting put custom

The black background should be more smooth - but if you want to improve it

go to Matte Generation and experiment with the transparency!

All that is needed to do after this, is for you to put your picture of the background you want underneath the video and scale it, to the size you want it to be, behind your people!

Screen Shot2017-03-06 at 11.13.02 AM

The editing process overall was not an easy process, I did encounter a lot of problems once my edit was complete, whenever I wanted to render my clips it would leave my footage in a bad and blurry quality, making it hard to see the dancers in a clear resolution. I tried my best to fix this problem, but still it could not be resolved, I even asked my teacher to help me and she discovered what the problem was, which was my software (premier pro) she tried to default the settings, but still once rendering my footage again the video quality was still in a bad condition. This left me frustrated, but after a while I realized that these types of things can occur, especially when editing, so this experience has taught me to be more understanding and patient, because of this I had to upload my video still on to Youtube, despite the quality being amateurish.

Evaluation :

WWW - What went well

I believe what went well was the green screen effect, I got a lot of good feedback from my peers who had stated that the background I had replaced the green screen with, looked really nice, even my tutor had said she thought the background went really well! I also felt that the background was very good because it was quite clear and related to the theme of the music video, which was being in love, young love and two different emotions in it. (experiencing love as a adolescent)

The image I used instead of the green screen gave the scene more personality and just made the clips stand out!

I believe that what also went well was the color correction of my clips, I feel like I used really good filters which allowed my performers to stand out and added more drama and emotions to certain scenes.

Another feature that I felt went really well with my work was the intro, I was very much inspired by one of the videos I saw in my research, which was High school musical. I feel happy that I had managed to create this intro, hassle free, especially when it was time for me to finish my deadline. What made me like the intro even more was the feedback I got from people who said it looked ''cute'' adding to the theme.

I also felt that I added some good clips in the right area's that were in-sync with the song, despite the footage being shaky or blurred.

WDWW - What didn't went well

As mentioned before I really feel that the quality of the video has let me down in this music video, even though it had nothing to do with me but with the software, I just really wished the final edit quality could have looked how it originally looked before being rendered, which was clear.

Another feature that I felt did not go really well in my final edit was some of the clips, some of the clips I used were very shaky and sometimes out of focus, I could of used different clips but I felt like when I added the different ones, it did not really go well and was not in-sync with the music as my original clips were. - Some of the shots we originally got was just either not in focus or stabilized which was another problem.

Another fault that I found in my work was some of the performers. I felt that some of the clips of them doing their choreography, just did not go really well with some bits of the song. I also wished they could have put a bit more effort in it, as most of the clips we got of them dancing, they were some mistakes present and some parts where people were smiling and some where people weren't, which stood out.